WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden on Monday signed an order to reverse a Trump-era Pentagon policy that largely banned transgender people from being able to serve in the military.
The new order, which Biden signed in the Oval Office during a meeting with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, overturns the ban ordered by President Donald Trump in a tweet during his first year in office. It immediately prohibits any member of the service from being forced out of the military on the grounds of gender identity.
“What I’m doing is allowing all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform,” Biden said as he signed the order.
“America is stronger, at home and around the world, when it is inclusive. The military is no exception, ”the order says. “Allowing all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform is better for the military and better for the country because an inclusive force is a more effective force. In short, it is the right thing to do and it is in our national interest.”
The order orders the departments of Defense and National Security to take steps to implement the order for the military and the Coast Guard. And he says they have to re-examine the records of service members who were discharged or denied recruitment because of gender identity issues under the previous policy.
It requires departments to report to the president on their progress within 60 days.
Austin, in a statement, expressed support for the change and said the Pentagon will work for the next two months to implement the new policy.
“I fully support the president’s leadership that all transgender people who want to serve in the U.S. military and can meet the right standards will be able to do so openly and without discrimination,” Austin said. “It simply came to our notice then. He is also the smartest. ”
Congress members and advocates hailed the signing.
“This is the triumph of evidence-based policy on discrimination,” said Aaron Belkin, executive director of the Palm Center, which investigates and advocates for LGBTQ discrimination. “Inclusive policy will make it easier for trans troops to do their job and fulfill their missions.”
Trump’s policy triggered several demands, including transgender people who wanted to join the military and found themselves blocked.
“My highest goal is to serve my country in the U.S. military and I have fought against this ban because I know I am qualified to serve,” said Nicolas Talbott, aspiring a member of the service involved in one of the lawsuits. . “I am delighted and relieved that I and other transgender Americans can assess ourselves solely on the basis of our ability to meet military standards. I look forward to becoming the best member of the service I can be. “
Under Biden’s new policy, members of transgender services will not be discharged based on gender identity.
The decision comes as Biden plans to focus on equity issues that he says continue to take into account all aspects of American life. Prior to his inauguration, Biden’s transition team released a note from Ron Klain, now head of the White House cabinet, outlining Biden’s plan to use his first full week as president. ” to promote equity and support communities of color and other underserved communities. ”
The move to repeal the transgender ban is also the latest example that Biden used the executive branch in his early days as president to dismantle Trump’s legacy. His first actions include orders to overturn the Trump administration’s ban on travelers from several predominantly Muslim countries, stop construction of the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, and launch an initiative to advance racial equity.
Until a few years ago, members of the service could be discharged from the military for transgender, but that changed during the Obama administration. In 2016, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that transgender people already serving in the military would be allowed to serve openly. And the military set July 1, 2017 as the date when transgender people would be allowed to enlist.
After Trump took office, however, his administration delayed the enlistment date and called for an additional study to determine whether allowing service to transgender people would affect military readiness or effectiveness.
A few weeks later, Trump took military leaders by surprise and tweeted that the government would not accept or allow transgender people to serve “in any capacity” in the military. “Our military must focus on a decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the enormous medical costs and disruption that transgender people would entail in the military,” he wrote.
After a long and complicated legal battle and additional revisions, the Department of Defense approved in April 2019 the new policy that was below the total ban, but banned transgender troops and military recruits from transitioning to a other sex and demanded that most people serve their birth gender.
Under this policy, currently serving transgender troops and anyone who had signed a enlistment contract before the effective date could continue with hormone treatment plans and gender transition if they had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
But after that date, no one with gender dysphoria who was taking hormones or had switched to another gender could not enlist. Troops that were already serving and diagnosed with gender dysphoria were required to serve in the gender of their birth and were prohibited from taking hormones or transitional surgery.
As of 2019, an estimated 14,700 in active duty and on-reserve staff are identified as transgender, but not all are seeking treatment. Since July 2016, more than 1,500 members of the service have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria; as of February 1, 2019, there were 1,071 current servers. According to the Pentagon, the department spent about $ 8 million on transgender care between 2016 and 2019. The military’s annual health care budget exceeds $ 50 billion.
The four service chiefs told Congress in 2018 that they had seen no issues of discipline, morale or readiness for unity with the transgender troops who openly served in the military. But they also acknowledged that some commanders spent a lot of time with transgender individuals working with medical requirements and other transition issues.
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Aamer Madhani, an Associated Press writer, contributed to this report.